(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical connectors; and, more particularly, to the fuse holder within an automotive terminal block which removably secures various connections.
(2) Prior Art
Automobiles typically have a fuse terminal block which is mounted adjacent the instrument panel or forward fire wall to provide a means for securing fuses and for providing connections to various electrical components of an automobile such as headlights, horns, power seats, power windows and numerous electrical options which can be customer selected.
It is particularly desirable that electrical connection can be made to the fuse holder in a rapid and secure manner. The connection should also be such that there is no interference with the insertion of a fuse blade contact into a spring holding clip of a fuse holder. To satisfy the needs of rapid and simple mass production, the connection of an electrical conductor to the fuse holder should be completely "fool proof". Because of the desire of the fabricator to use "short cuts" or to otherwise complete the job as quickly as possible without adequate assurance of quality of the completed fuse holder, designing a connection configuration to the fuse holder has presented problems. Further it is desirable to make a fuse holder which uses as little material as possible for a given current carrying capacity as possible and yet has a desired strength. These conflicting requirements have long posed a problem to designers of fuse holders.
For example, one known configuration taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,109 includes a core (or conductor) crimp pair of wings and an insulation crimp pair of wings which are spread apart longitudinally (along the length of an attached wire) to incorporate an integral, transversely extending bus bar portion. A wire lead is crimped between the wings. Aligned with the wire lead are spring clips with the opposing prongs forming a female contact portion for receiving therebetween the blade of a fuse. Incorrect positioning of the wire terminal in the fuse holder can cause the ends of the wire lead to interfere with the female portion or spring. Such interference can cause (1) deflection of the spring thereby misaligning it with a fuse blade, (2) holding the spring in closed position when strands of the terminal wire are on each side of the prong thereby making insertion of the fuse blade contact difficult, and (3) opening of the spring by insertion of the terminal wire sufficiently far into the spring so that it goes between the prongs and spreads them apart. When the wire enters between the prongs and spreads them apart not only does it make insertion of the fuse blade contact difficult because of interference of the wire ends, but it may lead to poor contact or intermittent contact which is difficult to detect and repair. These are some of the problems this invention overcomes.